Possessing a range of over three octaves, the repertoire of world-renowned American soprano Laura Aikin embraces works from the Baroque to the contemporary and makes her a most welcome artist the world’s great opera houses and concert halls. She began her career as a member of the ensemble at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden Berlin (1992-98) under the artistic direction of Daniel Barenboim where she performed more than 300 times in major roles like Lulu, Königin der Nacht, Zerbinetta, Amenaide (Tancredi), Sophie, Adele as well as the title role in Zaide.
Laura Aikin is a regular guest at the leading opera houses worldwide such as the Vienna State Opera, La Scala Milano, Bavarian State Opera, Opernhaus Zurich, Netherlands Opera, Opéra National de Paris, Semperoper Dresden, Gran Teatro del Liceu Barcelona, Opera Frankfurt, Chicago Lyric Opera, Santa Fe Opera, San Francisco Opera and Metropolitan Opera New York.
In addition to her numerous concert appearances at the Salzburg Festival since 1995, the artist appeared among others as Königin der Nacht, in the world premiere of Henze's opera l’Upupa (Bad’iat), as Blondchen and Konstanze (Die Entführung aus dem Serail) and was highly acclaimed by both audience and press for her interpretation of Marie in Zimmermann’s Die Soldaten in 2012 and for Birtwistle‘s Gawain in 2013.
Being also a sought-after concert singer, Laura Aikin performs with orchestras such as the Berlin, Munich and Vienna Philharmonic, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Chicago and Vienna Symphonic, the Cleveland Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the WDR, SWR and MDR Radio Symphony Orchestras as well as with the Ensemble Intercontemporain, Les Arts Florissants, Concerto Köln and Concentus Musicus Wien.
She performed with leading conductors as Claudio Abbado, Alain Altinoglou, Daniel Barenboim, Pierre Boulez, Martin Brabbins, Sylvain Cambreling, William Christie, Christoph von Dohnányi, Iván Fischer, Mikko Franck, Daniele Gatti, Michael Gielen, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Manfred Honeck, Jakub Hrůša, René Jacobs, Fabio Luisi, Kent Nagano, Zubin Mehta, Cornelius Meister, Ingo Metzmacher, Riccardo Muti, Helmuth Rilling, Donald Runnicles, Giuseppe Sinopoli, Michael Tilson Thomas and Franz Welser-Möst.
Operatic successes of the past years have included her first Giunia (Lucio Silla) at Gran Teatro del Liceu in Barcelona, Lucia (Lucia di Lammermoor) at the Opéra de Montpellier, Lulu in Paris and at the Lyon Opera, La Scala and the Wiener Festwochen in the new Peter Stein production, Rossini’s Semiramide in Naples, Diana (Arbore di Diana) in Barcelona, Marguérite (Les Huguenots) in Strassburg and Marilyn Monroe in the première of De Raaff’s opera Waiting for Miss Monroe at Netherlands Opera. Further highlights include Strauss´ Aithra (Die ägyptische Helena) as well as Mozart´s Don Giovanni (Donna Anna) at the Deutsche Oper Berlin, Schoenberg´s Pierrot Lunaire at the Frankfurt Opera, Zimmermann´s Die Soldaten at La Scala, Morton Feldman´s opera Neither at the Berlin State Opera and at the Ruhrtriennale as well as Mozart´s Die Entführung aus dem Serail at the Hamburg State Opera.
Recent highlights include the role of Helena in Manfred Trojahn's Orest at the Vienna State Opera, which was revived at the Haus am Ring in autumn 2019. The 2021-2022 season brought Shostakovich's The Nose at the Bavarian State Opera, as well as the world premiere of Stefan Wirth's Girl with a Pearl Earring at Zurich Opera, and a concert version of Rosenkavalier conducted by Lawrence Foster, where Laura Aikin was heard for the first time as the Marschallin. In the automn of 2022 Laura Aikin can be heard as Mrs Grose in a production of Britten's The Turn of the Screw conducted by Iván Fischer in Budapest and Vicenza, and she returns to the Vienna State Opera as Rosalinde in the traditional Fledermaus at the turn of the year.
Her many acclaimed recordings include Beethoven's Christus am Ölberge with Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Schoenberg's Die Jakobsleiter with the Südwestfunk Symphony Orchestra, Respighi's La campana sommersa (Montpellier Opera), DVDs of Lulu (Opernhaus Zurich), Henze´s l’Upupa and Die Entführung aus dem Serail (both from the Salzburg Festival) and Dialogues des Carmélites with Riccardo Muti (La Scala), a solo recording of Songs and Cycles by Rorem with pianist Donald Sulzen (Orfeo) as well as Beethoven’s Christus am Ölberge and his Missa solemnis - both under the baton of Nikolaus Harnoncourt (Sony Music). Most recently, a widely acclaimed recording of Johann Strauss’ Die Fledermaus with Laura Aikin as Rosalinde appeared (Pentatone) – recorded with the NDR Radio Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Lawrence Foster.
In addition to her concert and opera activities, Laura Aikin is an outstanding voice teacher. From autumn 2022, Laura Aikin will hold a professorship in singing at the Vienna University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna.